Year after year one comes across movies which bring with it a lot of expectations and as the date of release draws nearby, the excitement only keeps rising more and more. So how many of these movies go on to disappoint you? Many, I’m sure and that’s when you are irritated, upset and sometimes heartbroken. And then when the next such movie releases you still go again thinking that this time you aren’t going to be cheated. But how many times do you watch such a movie and still come out thinking all that excitement and hype was justified ?And is it often that you keep thinking so much about the movie that its 3 A.M in the morning and you are still debating whether to sleep or continue soaking in the experience of watching the movie? I’m sure such instances are far and few nowadays and so when such an occasion comes by, isn’t it time to rejoice?
Without much ado I now head on to talk about Kaminey- the movie that most of us have been waiting for. By now its common knowledge that Shahid Kapur plays the roles of Charlie (he lisps) and Guddu (he stammers), twin brothers who hate each other due to an earlier incident in their life. You also know that Guddu and Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) are in love and that Sweety happens to be the sister of Bhope Bhau ( Amole Gupte), a Jai Maharashtra swearing gangster and a wannabe politician. With this premise Vishal Bharadwaj builds up a whole host of characters which initially give you the impression that there are parallel tracks running along in the film.
But anyways what is to happen will eventually happen. So by a strange turn of circumstances all the parallel tracks converge slowly to become one cohesive track. Brothers who’ve not met for years are forced to meet again; love for the beloved gets tested, cops turn as dangerous as criminals themselves and there is blood everywhere. All this happens and what keeps the strings tied to a common knot is not a person, but an object- a guitar. The movie takes some time to hook you, but be rest assured that once you are hooked, you are hooked till the end.
Vishal Bharadwaj scores brilliantly in terms of managing the delicate balance of using so many characters and still ensuring cohesiveness. He also scores for two other reasons- music, which is vibrant, pulsating and in sync with the movie as well as the choice of actors for the movie. The cast has a curious mix of known names, debutants and people from other streams of cinema all coming together on screen here. For both Shahid and Priyanka the movie would do wonders to their filmography but I would certainly single out Amole Gupte ( he can now look at returning to acting in a big way ) and Chandan Roy Sanyal ( who plays Mikhail ) who shine through the movie- not that the others are any tad lesser in their act.
Tassaduq Hussain’s cinematography also needs a special mention for having brought out the raw images in the movie splendidly. And aren’t movies all about those special moments- ones that you connect to and keep talking about and cry or laugh along with the memory later on? In case of Kaminey there are so many such moments that one can probably write a post on just those moments alone and I bet you that the post will look extremely lengthy. So I’ll refrain from doing so and instead allow some surprises to remain for you all.
There was a stage in life when I used to enjoy the big mainstream movies alone and frowned upon the so called “art” movies. Much later I started getting disillusioned with the bigger movies and then started looking forward to the middle of the road cinema. All this was part of my growing up in terms of cinema exposure. Now I feel that there is no need for any distinction between mainstream and middle of the road cinema (except for the scale of production). What really matters is whether the movie is ultimately good or bad. If the movie manages to keep you hooked right till the end, a major part of the director’s responsibility seems to get paid off, like it does in case of Kaminey. I will not pass any judgment on the movie by giving any grand statement but all I can say is that this is a movie which has its heart in the right place and I guess that’s what counts eventually isn’t it?
Dhan Te Nan- Go on and enjoy the journey!!!
Originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/kaminey-a-tantalising-journey-like-never-before/
Without much ado I now head on to talk about Kaminey- the movie that most of us have been waiting for. By now its common knowledge that Shahid Kapur plays the roles of Charlie (he lisps) and Guddu (he stammers), twin brothers who hate each other due to an earlier incident in their life. You also know that Guddu and Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) are in love and that Sweety happens to be the sister of Bhope Bhau ( Amole Gupte), a Jai Maharashtra swearing gangster and a wannabe politician. With this premise Vishal Bharadwaj builds up a whole host of characters which initially give you the impression that there are parallel tracks running along in the film.
But anyways what is to happen will eventually happen. So by a strange turn of circumstances all the parallel tracks converge slowly to become one cohesive track. Brothers who’ve not met for years are forced to meet again; love for the beloved gets tested, cops turn as dangerous as criminals themselves and there is blood everywhere. All this happens and what keeps the strings tied to a common knot is not a person, but an object- a guitar. The movie takes some time to hook you, but be rest assured that once you are hooked, you are hooked till the end.
Vishal Bharadwaj scores brilliantly in terms of managing the delicate balance of using so many characters and still ensuring cohesiveness. He also scores for two other reasons- music, which is vibrant, pulsating and in sync with the movie as well as the choice of actors for the movie. The cast has a curious mix of known names, debutants and people from other streams of cinema all coming together on screen here. For both Shahid and Priyanka the movie would do wonders to their filmography but I would certainly single out Amole Gupte ( he can now look at returning to acting in a big way ) and Chandan Roy Sanyal ( who plays Mikhail ) who shine through the movie- not that the others are any tad lesser in their act.
Tassaduq Hussain’s cinematography also needs a special mention for having brought out the raw images in the movie splendidly. And aren’t movies all about those special moments- ones that you connect to and keep talking about and cry or laugh along with the memory later on? In case of Kaminey there are so many such moments that one can probably write a post on just those moments alone and I bet you that the post will look extremely lengthy. So I’ll refrain from doing so and instead allow some surprises to remain for you all.
There was a stage in life when I used to enjoy the big mainstream movies alone and frowned upon the so called “art” movies. Much later I started getting disillusioned with the bigger movies and then started looking forward to the middle of the road cinema. All this was part of my growing up in terms of cinema exposure. Now I feel that there is no need for any distinction between mainstream and middle of the road cinema (except for the scale of production). What really matters is whether the movie is ultimately good or bad. If the movie manages to keep you hooked right till the end, a major part of the director’s responsibility seems to get paid off, like it does in case of Kaminey. I will not pass any judgment on the movie by giving any grand statement but all I can say is that this is a movie which has its heart in the right place and I guess that’s what counts eventually isn’t it?
Dhan Te Nan- Go on and enjoy the journey!!!
Originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/kaminey-a-tantalising-journey-like-never-before/
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